Lies Whispered From the Past
It's Not Love, Actually.
After the kiss, Nikki didn't initially think 'Oh my God, I cheated on my boyfriend. Who I went out with: For three years. THREE YEARS!' She wasn't even thinking about it at the moment. She was thinking about what that kiss really meant. Did she give in because she was mad at Byron? Because she truly thought she had something going on with Tristan? Because she wanted some physical attention after a starvation period of two-and-a-half months? Or was it because kissing Tristan finally put her in control of one aspect of her life? 'Oh, I can't control volleyball, grades, college and two jobs to pay for college, but I can control who I kiss!' Nikki couldn't help but think. She thought it was a combo of all four, but it had more to do with Byron than anything else. After all, he attacked all because she pointed out he wasn't a college superstar scouted by the NBA- yet. She thought he was going to kill her! Still, Nikki understood where Byron was coming from. Keeping up surface appearances was the easy part. Dealing with his own miserable life behind closed doors was what was eating him inside. So typical: only child coming from a wealthy family was miserable. But not because he was lonely, sometimes he wanted to be left alone. Nikki reminiscences about Byron's awful home life to this day.
" My parents hated me from the day I was born!" Byron exclaimed suddenly.
Byron poured his heart out to Nikki one day during sophomore year, explaining this bizarre outburst. When Sasha Mitchell, his mother, was giving birth to him that stormy April day, the doctor said there had been serious complications. If she was impregnated again and carried it to term, neither of them would live to the next morning. Her body could barely handle this pregnancy, let alone another one. Derek Mitchell, his father, was pissed that a newborn child could destroy his dreams of being a nuclear family. Sasha was crushed too, as she really wanted a daughter next time around and her new baby took it all away. They could barely take the news: Derek went back to work the very next day and reasoned with his boss "Sasha had that baby, not me." Sasha grunted and bared eight months of diapers, crying and breastfeeding. As soon as Byron took his first steps, she went back to work as well, hiring a nanny named Maria Perez-Johnson. The nanny was his motherly figure, and Byron often played with the little son she took with her, Hector, who was three years his junior. It was all roses, and Sasha was around Byron more, finally accepting this was her only son and she needed to spend time with him. They were close. Derek, who managed to hold an eleven year grudge, avoided Byron whenever he could. Sasha told Byron to ignore his father, and Sasha indulged him with fun beach trips and amusement park visits, with ice cream shop fun and Mommy and Son DVD nights with Hector tagging along. Everything was perfect to Byron, until that fateful day in the middle of sixth grade. He and Hector were playing video games downstairs, Byron winning, when they heard fierce moaning upstairs.
" What was that?" Hector said in his squeaky voice.
" Mom and Derek are going at it again. Don't worry." Byron said.
The moaning was progressively louder by the minute, and the unusual thing was, they heard thumping. Like the bed was trying to burst through the floor. Derek was groan real loud, another unusual thing. " Oh Derek!" they heard an unfamiliar scream. " Yes, oh yes! Keep at it!" Sasha wasn't a loud one in bed. She was always scared the neighbors would complain. The ruckus stopped for a few minutes. Then Derek was the one moaning. The thumping was harder, like it might actually break the ceiling. "Oh, M-" Derek screamed at the top of his lungs. Nikki knew where the rest of the story was going. Sasha came in through the back door, and found Maria on top of her husband, still moving on him.
" You good-for-nothing Jezebel prancing slut!" Sasha wailed.
" How dare you screw my husband you anorexic, Spanish-trash bitch!"
" I'm sorry Mrs. Mitchell. I thought you guys were divorcing. Derek told me." Maria panicked.
" I'm not for this. I just hate it when maid-whores think they can prostitute themselves to their employer's husbands. You nasty ass puta, that's what you are and that's all your ever going to be."
" I'm very-" Maria never finished her sentence. In a surprise attack, Sasha snatched her hair and yanked her to the wooden floor. Before Maria could react, Sasha punched her repeatedly in the face with one hand, and yanked her long dark hair with the other. Sasha drew blood like crazy, and finally mashed her head against the floor. Maria was unconscious, and a pool of thick blood formed around her head.
" Why the hell are you screwing this nasty ass hoochie-mama skank in our bed, you selfish bastard!"
" Don't call me selfish. You're rarely here and when you are you don't pay attention to anyone but Byron!"
" Don't give me that bullshit! You're always at work-"
The rest of the day was blur. All he could remember was the screaming, the fighting, the paramedics being called, Hector walking home. That night, Sasha slapped Byron across the face.
" You jackass. If you were never born, I would've never invited that puta in our home and have my husband cheat on me. You and your damn father can rot in hell!" A whole year Byron had to live with his grandfather two blocks away while his parents proceed with divorce and custody hearings. If they could, they would've left Byron there until the day he died. To everyone's surprise, the Mitchell's agreed to see a marriage counselor and neutralize their problems. It took eight months out of that year and divorce was no more. Really, Sasha only agreed to take Derek back because the divorce would be economically devastating to her, due to a fourteen year prenuptial agreement. They took Byron back into their home as strict, no nonsense parents who put him on lock down whenever he made below a 86 on any assignment. They freaked out whenever he made a measly 89 on a test. Lock down meant no cell, no TV, no internet, no leaving the house, nothing. Academic was the least of his problems though. Derek found a new outlet for his hatred of Byron by couching him in basketball for 90 minutes everyday after school. Verbal abuse became the norm, Derek always commenting how much better he could've done that shot and when he missed, Derek teared into him. "Lousy, no-good sack of shit! A dog could make it to the rim. So you no better than a dog, huh? Anything would be better than you, ya fat, freeloading bottom-feeding idiotic turd. All your ever going to be. A negro who can't make it to the rim." When they played one on one, he always managed to elbow Byron or punch him in the gut. If Byron fought back or said one word of protest, Derek would grab the metal baseball bat, corner Byron and hit him in the leg. Hard. Sasha always defended Derek, and verbally assaulted him herself whenever he made below a 100 on anything. "Oh, a 92. Anything else you can't do right? Tom Robinson was SHOT, not stabbed. You're a little moron, ya know that? You ain't worth jack! A simple third grade question like this. No college is gonna want you." Nikki was shocked at his story. That explained his bruises, why he flinched whenever he made below a 100, his angry outbursts, his determination to make something of himself, why he was always studying and practicing. Why he spread nasty rumors about Hector Johnson to the younger middle school kids who looked up to him. Nikki felt so bad for him she began to kiss him. Then they made out. Byron felt so happy to finally have someone who truly loved him, and Nikki was happy to be that girl. That day, they lost their virginity to one another. Nikki knew where Byron had been and why he was miserable. She understood where he was coming from and why he was so frustrated. When his girlfriend put him down, it felt like she was shifting to his parent's side. That would hurt more than anything else. Nikki would try to make their relationship work out. She had to break it to Tristan. Oh, she forgot about him. Tristan...
" My parents hated me from the day I was born!" Byron exclaimed suddenly.
Byron poured his heart out to Nikki one day during sophomore year, explaining this bizarre outburst. When Sasha Mitchell, his mother, was giving birth to him that stormy April day, the doctor said there had been serious complications. If she was impregnated again and carried it to term, neither of them would live to the next morning. Her body could barely handle this pregnancy, let alone another one. Derek Mitchell, his father, was pissed that a newborn child could destroy his dreams of being a nuclear family. Sasha was crushed too, as she really wanted a daughter next time around and her new baby took it all away. They could barely take the news: Derek went back to work the very next day and reasoned with his boss "Sasha had that baby, not me." Sasha grunted and bared eight months of diapers, crying and breastfeeding. As soon as Byron took his first steps, she went back to work as well, hiring a nanny named Maria Perez-Johnson. The nanny was his motherly figure, and Byron often played with the little son she took with her, Hector, who was three years his junior. It was all roses, and Sasha was around Byron more, finally accepting this was her only son and she needed to spend time with him. They were close. Derek, who managed to hold an eleven year grudge, avoided Byron whenever he could. Sasha told Byron to ignore his father, and Sasha indulged him with fun beach trips and amusement park visits, with ice cream shop fun and Mommy and Son DVD nights with Hector tagging along. Everything was perfect to Byron, until that fateful day in the middle of sixth grade. He and Hector were playing video games downstairs, Byron winning, when they heard fierce moaning upstairs.
" What was that?" Hector said in his squeaky voice.
" Mom and Derek are going at it again. Don't worry." Byron said.
The moaning was progressively louder by the minute, and the unusual thing was, they heard thumping. Like the bed was trying to burst through the floor. Derek was groan real loud, another unusual thing. " Oh Derek!" they heard an unfamiliar scream. " Yes, oh yes! Keep at it!" Sasha wasn't a loud one in bed. She was always scared the neighbors would complain. The ruckus stopped for a few minutes. Then Derek was the one moaning. The thumping was harder, like it might actually break the ceiling. "Oh, M-" Derek screamed at the top of his lungs. Nikki knew where the rest of the story was going. Sasha came in through the back door, and found Maria on top of her husband, still moving on him.
" You good-for-nothing Jezebel prancing slut!" Sasha wailed.
" How dare you screw my husband you anorexic, Spanish-trash bitch!"
" I'm sorry Mrs. Mitchell. I thought you guys were divorcing. Derek told me." Maria panicked.
" I'm not for this. I just hate it when maid-whores think they can prostitute themselves to their employer's husbands. You nasty ass puta, that's what you are and that's all your ever going to be."
" I'm very-" Maria never finished her sentence. In a surprise attack, Sasha snatched her hair and yanked her to the wooden floor. Before Maria could react, Sasha punched her repeatedly in the face with one hand, and yanked her long dark hair with the other. Sasha drew blood like crazy, and finally mashed her head against the floor. Maria was unconscious, and a pool of thick blood formed around her head.
" Why the hell are you screwing this nasty ass hoochie-mama skank in our bed, you selfish bastard!"
" Don't call me selfish. You're rarely here and when you are you don't pay attention to anyone but Byron!"
" Don't give me that bullshit! You're always at work-"
The rest of the day was blur. All he could remember was the screaming, the fighting, the paramedics being called, Hector walking home. That night, Sasha slapped Byron across the face.
" You jackass. If you were never born, I would've never invited that puta in our home and have my husband cheat on me. You and your damn father can rot in hell!" A whole year Byron had to live with his grandfather two blocks away while his parents proceed with divorce and custody hearings. If they could, they would've left Byron there until the day he died. To everyone's surprise, the Mitchell's agreed to see a marriage counselor and neutralize their problems. It took eight months out of that year and divorce was no more. Really, Sasha only agreed to take Derek back because the divorce would be economically devastating to her, due to a fourteen year prenuptial agreement. They took Byron back into their home as strict, no nonsense parents who put him on lock down whenever he made below a 86 on any assignment. They freaked out whenever he made a measly 89 on a test. Lock down meant no cell, no TV, no internet, no leaving the house, nothing. Academic was the least of his problems though. Derek found a new outlet for his hatred of Byron by couching him in basketball for 90 minutes everyday after school. Verbal abuse became the norm, Derek always commenting how much better he could've done that shot and when he missed, Derek teared into him. "Lousy, no-good sack of shit! A dog could make it to the rim. So you no better than a dog, huh? Anything would be better than you, ya fat, freeloading bottom-feeding idiotic turd. All your ever going to be. A negro who can't make it to the rim." When they played one on one, he always managed to elbow Byron or punch him in the gut. If Byron fought back or said one word of protest, Derek would grab the metal baseball bat, corner Byron and hit him in the leg. Hard. Sasha always defended Derek, and verbally assaulted him herself whenever he made below a 100 on anything. "Oh, a 92. Anything else you can't do right? Tom Robinson was SHOT, not stabbed. You're a little moron, ya know that? You ain't worth jack! A simple third grade question like this. No college is gonna want you." Nikki was shocked at his story. That explained his bruises, why he flinched whenever he made below a 100, his angry outbursts, his determination to make something of himself, why he was always studying and practicing. Why he spread nasty rumors about Hector Johnson to the younger middle school kids who looked up to him. Nikki felt so bad for him she began to kiss him. Then they made out. Byron felt so happy to finally have someone who truly loved him, and Nikki was happy to be that girl. That day, they lost their virginity to one another. Nikki knew where Byron had been and why he was miserable. She understood where he was coming from and why he was so frustrated. When his girlfriend put him down, it felt like she was shifting to his parent's side. That would hurt more than anything else. Nikki would try to make their relationship work out. She had to break it to Tristan. Oh, she forgot about him. Tristan...